It was back in January 2018 that a group of young Gambians got together and launched a newspaper, SeniGambia Weekly, which was coming out on print version every Friday.
After about six months of print, the youth dispersed and the paper folded up. Seven years on, SeniGambia is back and has been thriving as an online newspaper. This time, with the wisdom of adulthood, the lessons of experience, coupled with renewed vigour to start anew, it has been kept firmly to weather the storm.
As a reminder of what SeniGambia is all about, on New Year’s day 2025, the news website goes live from The Gambia with a republication of the first-ever editorial of the paper back in January 19, 2018:
“January 19 is now firmly etched in the memory of Gambians as a liberation day just like February 18, Independence day. Although the rebirth of hope began on first December 2016 as the citizenry patiently stood in line to cast their votes with the weight of expectations heavy on their hearts and shoulders. It was on Friday the second of December 2016 at Juma’ah prayers time that the shaky hope blossomed with the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) declaration of the results of the December 1 elections: Yahya Jammeh’s era as leader of The Gambia has come to an end.
The nation erupted in a whirlwind of celebrations as sincere as the welcome of the birth of a long-awaited child after decades of barrenness. But the celebration was short-lived. By the tenth of December 2016, Jammeh in stubborn defiance of the will of the Gambian people raised his protest at the genuine happiness of the people by claiming that the counting of results was rigged and he has overturned the will of the people: the IEC declared results. To claim that Jammeh was truly the bad bully who would not leave the Gambia alone would be an understatement. Pandemonium broke and the cost of the collective trauma which our poor nation was subjected to, we leave to psychologists to study.
But History was on the side of the long-suffering people of this tinygreat nation: on Thursday, 19 January 2017, Adama Barrow was sworn in as the President of The Gambia, the new Gambia. And by the close of Friday January 20, it was bye, bye Jammeh, salam new Gambia. As stories are being written on how exactly it happened, how it turned out well for The Gambia, one year on from the fateful January 19, a new newspaper is born. SeniGambia Weekly newspaper: the one-year-old new republic’s first weekly newspaper. SeniGambia is your newspaper, you the people and friends of The Gambia. It will be your observer of national development efforts, your point of view like a mirror to express your ratings of the performance of elected representatives, and your standard for human rights preservation and respect for the rule of law.
SeniGambia will be watching the new Gambia, SeniGambia swears to be the eyes, ears and mouthpiece of the poor, the needy and the oppressed until their rights are fulfilled. But SeniGambia will not be hard on the new Gambia. Why not? Because the new Gambia is the Big Brother to SeniGambia. We share the same parents: The Gambian people, repressed, held back and oppressed for two decades, two decades of lost development opportunity. We share the same mother: the oppressed people of our country, who lost their lives, the lives of loved ones, for no crime except they crossed a dictator. We share the same father: The brave youth of the country who matched and topped every move that Jammeh threw at them at the final battle and resisted until he gave in and came tumbling down. And we appreciate this marriage of our mother and father that was tied by the brave political leaders and the diaspora alliance who stood up to defy a despot. So we will not be hard on our Big Brother, the new Gambia. But unlike the western countries where Big Brother watches everything, here with the birth of SeniGambia, Small Sister to the new Gambia one year on, we will be watching Big Brother. Small Sister shall watch over Big Brother.
So Big Brother, be warned. We don’t expect to be reporting the disappearance of journalists, the wrongful detainment of civil servants and frequent changes in ministers, permanent secretaries and directors. And we certainly don’t expect or hope to be always reporting the murder of oppressed Gambians and rampant corruption. But if it occurs, like our brave father we shall sniff out the story and tell mother and father, so that Big Brother can be reformed and grow into something we shall all be proud of.
A new Era begins and we pledge to do our best and not let you all down. Seni kadou, SeniGambia and together, with our dreams of socioeconomic development, we shall fulfill with God’s blessings.”
So come with us on this journey that we hope shall be endless and endlessly rewarded.